I own three cars all of witch cost under 3k to buy. I have no car payment and all get over 25mpg ( not so good these days ) I live about 2 miles from work. If I do drive to work I go weeks without filling up. But I also ride my bike. I don't own and drive cars just to get to work, its a passion of mine, I love to drive. You won't see me get rid of my cars or abandon the hobby but I will use transit when it is available. I can still enjoy my car but not every morning, no big deal.

I will never get rid of my car/truck, but I do use my Buell for 80% of my transportation now. Cost of gas, heavy traffic...

Originally Posted by sandrunner

Every time I paint a motorcycle, I take it out in the grass and gently set it down on its side after reassembly but prior to the first ride. It breaks the magnetic attraction between fresh paint and the ground.

When the cost to own a car (gas, insurance, registration, maintenance) exceeds 25% of my income I will be forced to take the bus. Until then, public transit will be something I rely on when visiting other larger cities, but in a place like Reno, NV where everything is spread out and transit consists of inconvenient bus routes, you really HAVE to own a car to really get around in any sort of timely manner. Now in 10 years when we are supposed to have a light rail system in place I might change my mind, but as it stands now, I'd probably rather drive a scooter than take the bus.

Cost and income. My wife was laid off for a while and we were forced to retire one car to the garage and I took the bus downtown. Took about as long as driving downtown and was ultimately cheaper than gas, wear & tear and paying for parking. She's working now, but we still share 1 car; if the bussing system were a bit better we might take a hard look at going carless. She and I now work in differing suburbs, both close to where we live, but to take the bus I spend nearly two hours catching transfers.

I don't drive to the grocery store any more. The store decided to remodel, but there wasn't room on their lot, so they moved quite a bit closer to my house. Now it takes the same time to walk as to drive (because I'd have to park), and there is no point in bringing a lot of groceries home because it's a lot cheaper to let the store (open 24 hours) keep them and I just get what I need when I need it.

My town isn't really suburban, nor is it a city. There's an unused rail line that may get passenger service soon. Considering that the bus is so cheap that it's more cost just for the fuel for my Golf TDI, The train is going to be a sweet deal. No traffic and it goes most of the places I now drive.

I won't be getting rid of the car. It's mostly going to be for pleasure drives, though.

living close to work or a mass transit system that does not suck (here in my town it is awful)

Even then, I would still prefer to drive.
But I also do not go straight home after work and sometimes might end up in another state, which is a big deal when you are starting from the middle of Texas.
I like to drive.
20K+ miles a year is nothing.
This in not Europe, Americans will always drive.

commute is 20 miles round trip and no bus routes along the way so not worth it. And even if I could walk or bike to work, I'd still keep a car for the weekends for any autocross events, car meets, etc.

Taking the subway to work costs me $15 and takes me an hour to get there.

Parking at work costs me $20, and takes an hour sitting in traffic to get there.

My left foot, wear and tear on the car, and my wallet says..... subway.

I would much rather drive my cars to work. Drinking a cup of coffee, listening to the radio, farting, picking my nose, and having a guaranteed seat..... but It's not worth it.

The only downside, I think, is dealing with the disaster that is WMATA... But I know what you mean. I moved from DC to ATL last month and went from taking public transportation or walking everywhere to driving absolutely everywhere. Crazily enough, it seems like I am actually saving money on a day to day basis. A tank of gas lasts me 2 weeks and it costs 45-50 bucks to fill up my tank. With all of WMATA's peak times, long waiting times and fare hikes, I am actually happy to be driving to and fro work. That said, going out at night is a different story all together. I suppose I just need to find places to crash at the end of the night

Better bike and PT infrastructure. But I suppose thats a but of a "chicken vs. egg" scenario. Ive been using PT fairly regularly since I live downtown, plus its nice my partner gets free bus passes through his work. For longer trips though (like to Provo or Ogden), thats when ill choose the car every time.

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Originally Posted by emmettlodge

The horn is there to honk. Why wouldn't I honk it? I honk for lots of things. Honk at me? You bet i'll honk back. Honk honk mother****er i'm a Tacoma driver and you better get the **** out of my way.

It wouldn't take much. I live in a big city, but where I live, there is NO METRO. The bus system in this part of town is sub par as well. In highschool, if I walked home, it would take me about an hour. If I took the bus it would take about an hour as well. The bus was thus only taken when there was a severe snow or rain storm.

There is a train that brings you to the center of the city, but that is about a 45 minute walk from my house. A lot of my friends take this, but they take their cars to the train station. So a car is still needed.

Moral of the story? If I had decent public transportation available to me, I would not own a car right now. I would maybe own something fun that I could drive occasionally (Ill be honest, I love driving too much to give it up outright) but the cost of gas, parking, insurance, etc is really getting to me and all of us.

If I lived in the center of the city and also worked there, I wouldn't have a car. Or if I did have a car it would be a complete POS to be used for ski and bicycling trips.

But unfortunately even in Philadelphia, the public transit just isn't good enough. I just got back from touring Germany and holy crap, its so cheap and easy to use the public transit that there really is no reason to own a car. And many people in the cities don't.... its evident in the air quality. I never realized just how much the city smelled like car exhaust until I got off the airplane yesterday. Didn't get that at all in downtown Munich, Zurich, Frankfurt, etc.

I spend roughly $8,000 on fuel a year currently ... I think the average price for a gallon of gas would have to rise from $3.80ish (what I'm paying now) to over $16.00/gallon (quadrupling) in order to force me out of driving. Even then, I'd probably just move closer to work rather than give up my car.

i have a family and taking mass transit to do shopping for the kids is out of the question. i can't imagine trying to haul $400.00 worth of costco stuff home on a bus... my God....

The problem I see is CostCo, not the bus

Not that it's your fault, but that is the way we've been developing suburbia. If you had a small corner market within a couple blocks of your home, it would be a part of the lifestyle. You could buy fresh food daily or every other day, and not have to live the big box/frozen food lifestyle.

It's ironic that we have to live like pioneers at the edge of civilization with our monthly treks to town for goods.

I keep nothing in my fridge but a few condiments and fluids. I don't use my microwave. I go to the market daily. I cook all meals from scratch or near to, but never with frozen food - always fresh meats, veggies, fruits, etc.. But my market is 2 miles away - just far enough to mean I have to drive. A scooter or even bicycle would be ideal, but the risk at this point is pretty high. The streets have 55mph speed limits, and every time I drive, I see cars weaving into the occasional bike lanes.

Public transportation here is not very robust, either. One bus, every 1-3 hours, and it doesn't go to that shopping center with the supermarket???

Maybe $8 /gallon gas will make us re-think this ill strategy of putting up miles of walled boulevards and forcing us into the big box culture.

I do not think anything would be able to force me out of a car and into another form of transit.
Partly because the next 'big' city is ~150-200 miles away but mostly because I enjoy driving too much to give it up.

I don't see these as mutually exclusive. I could be happy riding a bus to work as long as I have the freedom to drive my car whenever I want (for fun). I'd wager that I even prefer it. When I've been on the road for work, it was always nice to be in a place where I didn't have to drive to work, but could still get into a car and drive for fun after work / weekends.

Besides the fact that our public transit systems basically suck in Toronto, I also can't stomach having to wait around, and having to deal with people. Lastly, my job requires me to be all over the place on a moments notice, so I'm a car guy until they take my license away.